Deciphering the Venomic Transcriptome of Killer-Wasp Vespa velutina

Abstract

Wasp stings have been arising to be a severe public health problem in China in recent years. However, molecular information about lethal or toxic factors in wasp venom is extremely lacking. In this study, we used two pyrosequencing platforms to analyze the transcriptome of Vespa velutina, the most common wasp species native in China. Besides the substantial amount of transcripts encoding for allergens usually regarded as the major lethal factor of wasp sting, a greater abundance of hemostasis-impairing toxins and neurotoxins in the venom of V. velutina were identified, implying that toxic reactions and allergic effects are envenoming strategy for the dangerous outcomes. The pattern of differentially expressed genes before and after venom extraction clearly indicates that the manifestation of V. velutina stings depends on subtle regulations in the metabolic pathway required for toxin recruitment. This comparative analysis offers timely clues for developing clinical treatments for wasp envenoming in China and around the world.

Purification and molecular characterization of phospholipase, antigen 5 and hyaluronidases from the venom of the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina)

“…The data we have obtained from these purified components, confirm the whole sequence data available in transcriptomic databases since 2015 [7], and this allows a thorough comparison with homologous components from other Hymenoptera. Moreover, the purified components will be used to demonstrate their relevance as allergens, by Component Resolved Diagnosis (CRD), in studies performed in platforms that can measure specific IgE in the sera of allergic patients ([8;9]), which are useful to differentiate which can be the sensitizing species for each patient, as we also published in the past ([10]), differentiating on Vespula vs. Polistes sensititization.…”

“…Panels A and B show the complete CDS of extracted from the transcriptomic data of Vespa velutina ([7;20]) for Vesp v 2A (341 amino acids, 40012.2 Da) and Vesp v 2B (331 amino acids, 39109.7 Da), respectively. Numbers above the sequences facilitate the localization of the amino acids.…”

“…The publicly available transcriptomic data for the Asian hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax [7] was downloaded from the GEO database (SRA experiment SRX595647). The sequence data was originally obtained from RNA extracted from the venom glands of Asian hornet species collected in China ([7]). Using the FASTX-Toolkit (http://hannonlab.cshl.edu/fastx_toolkit/), the sequencing reads were trimmed and filtered with respect to quality, trimming bases from the ends with quality score below 20 and keeping reads that were at least 50 bases long after trimming, resulting in 203,886,099 reads (99.9% of the original data set).…”

Competition between the native and the introduced hornets Vespa crabro and Vespa velutina: a comparison of potentially relevant life‐history traits

“…Such predation can be intense during summer and autumn, and represents a further threat to honeybee populations, which are already suffering a noteworthy decline throughout Europe because of several factors (Goulson et al, 2015). In addition to the economic impact on apiculture, the invasive hornet also has a potentially significant ecological impact, due to its predation on a vast array of insect species (Spradbery, 1973;Matsuura & Yamane, 1990), some of which (honeybees included) provide valuable ecosystem services, such as pollination, as well as a potential impact on human health (Monceau et al, 2014a), as envenomation of V. velutina can induce severe allergic or toxic reactions, resulting in organ failure and death (Liu et al, 2015).…”

Spread of the invasive yellow-legged hornet Vespa velutina (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in Italy

“…Adult wasps prey on bees and contribute to the loss of honeybee colonies (Monceau et al 2013(Monceau et al , 2014; there are also indications that the species could exert a negative effect on ecosystems by preying on wild insects (Beggs et al 2011). Colonial nests are often established in urban areas, therefore attacks to humans are possible (De Haro et al 2010;Villemant et al 2011a;Liu et al 2015;Tabar et al 2015).…”